First Day of Summer Catchup

The Oregon weather must have received the memo that today was officially summer because it was the first time in awhile it's actually felt like summer.  It was about 80 today and it was awesome.  Partially cloudy part of the day but still awesome.

Life is busy and is going to stay busy throughout the rest of the summer.  I hope I can keep up with this little blog and not find myself in September without posting.  We shall see.  For now here's a bunch of things we've been up to!

*  Last week I went to Portland to shop the Happy Valley garage sales with my friend Kristen and her SIL Jenny.  Our hubby's watch our kiddos and we get to garage sale uninterrupted.  It's amazing.  It's what I ask for from Peter for my birthday.  Friday weather was beautiful, Saturday it rained so that stunk.  But we still found some pretty good deals.  I scored a bike with a child ride-along seat on the back for only $15.  Practically brand new tupperware for 25 cents a piece.  Yes, only 25 cents a piece.  And here's Benjamin sitting on a new storage drawer unit for only $10.  It was a fabulous time with my friend and something I always look forward to.  I missed my guys terribly though and couldn't wait to get home.

*  Peter is still working hard on the fireplace.  The other night he was sanding down the drywall job he did.  Let's just say I'm glad I hadn't dusted that afternoon :-)

*  Our garden is growing!!  Who knows if we'll actually have any veggies but it doesn't seem like we killed it right out the gate which is a huge accomplishment for this black thumb!

*  We took Benjamin to the park last night and he was getting a bit close to the edge so Peter being the awesome dad he is, ran forward to catch him if he fell........but in the process hit the edge of the play structure stairs and totally cut up his shin.  Poor guy.  Great dad though.  (FYI, Benjamin didn't fall)

*  Since it was warm today I let Benjamin play with his water table in the backyard this morning.  He played for about 45 minutes and really enjoyed it.  We also played with bubbles.

*  This evening we picked up Peter from work and went to go pick strawberries.  The crop wasn't amazing this year because the sun has decided to remain hidden for the past 3 months (yes, I'm still bitter) but it was still a great evening out.  Benjamin only ate a few strawberries surprisingly, but loved holding them, finding rocks and getting dirty.

*  We ate leftovers for dinner, ran to Wal-Mart really quick and then I canned a batch of strawberry jam.  I figure Benjamin will soon be having lots of PB&J's and it's cheaper to do it this way.

*  We are on night #3 of Benjamin sleeping without a paci.  He rarely had it during the day but we decided it would be as good of a time as any to break him of it completely.  So Sunday night we put him to bed without it.  He cried a little bit but was tired and fell asleep pretty easy.  Naptime on Monday was rougher and he fought it for an hour, saying "oh paci, oh paci" and throwing his Floppy's out of the crib because he was a bit mad.  But he did go to sleep.  Last night he slept great, today's nap he fell asleep after 15 minutes.  And tonight there was no fussing at all and he fell asleep quickly.  I think we may officially be done with the paci.  That is so crazy to me.  Am I really exiting the baby stage with him?  He transitions really easily though so I knew he'd be okay, but he's taken it even better than I thought.  Farewell odd green paci, you've been sooo good to us :-)

*  That's all for now, about to go tell the hubby it's time to stop working and take a little ice cream break (he requested chocolate sauce tonight and I'm such a good little submissive wifey)  :-)

One Lucky Boy!

I have one lucky little boy.

He's the luckiest little boy because God has given him a tremendous gift.

That gift is a Daddy that loves the Lord, loves his wife, loves others and love his little boy so unconditionally it melts my heart every time I see them together.

I've always known Peter would be an amazing Dad.  When we were dating I'd watch him interact with kids at VBS, or we'd work together on Friday nights at Chinese Church.  Our loves of kids is one of the things that drew us together.  But nothing can really prepare you for the beauty of seeing the man you love with his son. 

He is so patient with him.  So intentional and involved.  He's goofy and active and teaches him about all things "boyish".  He's a sucker for his smile yet firm in discipline when he needs to be. 

He changes diapers, gives him baths, reads him countless stories, teaches him how to tackle, and reads him Bible stories at night.  He helps him scoop up his peas onto his spoon and shares bites of his chocolate with him.  He cuddles with him while he watches a dvd after a long day.

He plays with him at the park on Father's Day even though he was a bit cranky at times after only napping an hour.

He helps keep him quiet at restaurants when he gets in his loud, goofy moods.

He loves him despite his complete craziness at times, and in fact, cheers him on with his laughter.  He loves his little dork of a son.

He lets him ride along on his shoulders, even when he decides to play the "boom boom" game on Daddy's head with a rock :-)

Benjamin's eyes light up every time he sees him.  It's no wonder his first word was "Daddy" 

Benjamin is a lucky boy and we are a most blessed family.

Happy Father's Day Peter, we love you sooooooo much :-)

15/16 Months!!

I seem to be making a habit of doing this combination month posts because I get so far behind and completely miss my dates!  I can hardly believe Benjamin is 16 months (on the 3rd).....most people think he's almost 2 though :-)

Height:  33 inches (90th percentile)

Weight:  29 lbs (95th percentile)  Daddy and I were sure you were going to be 30 pounds but you must have been secretly dieting behind our backs to prove us wrong, ha!  All in all though, you are a big boy! (and we love it!)

Likes:  BOOKS!  CARS!  BALLS!  You are ALL boy.  You almost always have one of those 3 things in your hand at any given point in the day.  You love to be outside and you love to be anywhere where you can run, run, run and not look back.  You still adore Elmo and love helping Mama vacuum.  You're not into watching any shows lately because you're too active but you will sit for books for as long as someone will read to you.  You also adore your cousins who you got to visit in San Diego and you love your friends Elijah, Haddie and Micah.  You smile sooo big when you see them and immediately grab their arms.

Dislikes:  You still don't like getting your face washed after dinner.  I'm sooooo ready for this stage to be over.  You also hate getting your teeth brushed.  You want to do it yourself, but unfortunately you don't do well enough on your own and we almost have to pin you down to brush them every night.  This stage can end soon too!  You still get a bit skiddish when there's a loud or sudden noise too.

Eating:  You still eat pretty much everything we put in front of you.  Sometimes you're a bit picky but you're usually a great eater.  You still love your fruits and veggies, hamburger, chicken, beef, and you loooove noodles like your mama.  You love to snack on crackers and cheese.  You now know what a cheeseball is thanks to your Auntie Amanda and it's one of your favorite words to say :-)  You still love your whole milk and I'm so glad you do!  This month you've really started loving grapes and apples too.  And of course you always love it when you get your much beloved cookies!!

Sleeping:  Well, except for when we're on vacation, you usually sleep great at night.  You don't sleep terribly late into the morning but sleep from about 8pm or 8:30pm until about 7:00am, sometimes 7:30am.  It's a rare night where you wake up in the middle of the night and you usually soothe yourself if you do.  Naps have been a bit off because you can't decide whether you want to take a morning nap or not.  If you sleep in the morning you sleep great, for at least 2 hours but then you won't sleep at all in the afternoon.  But if I try to keep you awake all morning then it's not a guarantee that you'll take a great afternoon nap.  So we're wading through it all and trying to figure out your new "normal".  You still go to sleep without a fuss almost every time though as long as you have your paci and 2 Floppy's.  We're going to break you of your nighttime paci soon since you already don't have it during the day.

Personality:  GOOFY!  You are feisty and goofy and funny and active and smart and verbal all combined with a temper.  You can get very sassy sometimes when you don't get your way and we're working on being really patient with you as we teach you how to act differently.  But you are such a goof!  You are so loud at times and laugh so loud....we love it because you snort when you laugh hard!  You love to be chased and tickled.  You babble constantly....it is rarely very quiet in my house.  Your vocabulary is booming and you're saying more and more words and identifying more and more items in your books.  You love to give us "squeezes" instead of hugs and will randomly give us kisses.  You're curious and can sometimes be a bit bashful but for the most part you aren't really shy and just take off without us. 

Highlights:  You have had a busy couple of months!  We've gone to San Diego for a week, Idaho for a week, you've had another sleepover at the Zderads, and have spent a lot of time outside playing.  You're getting at least one of your molars in this month.  You can walk out the front door step without needing help.  You had another haircut (your 3rd one I think?)  You are now forward facing in your car seat!

Benjamin, I know we say this each month but it is just impossible to tell you how much we love you.  The joy you bring your Daddy and I is endless and we are so blessed to be your parents.  Thanks for being the spunky, crazy, book-loving, ball throwing, car racing, ornery, smart, and completely adorable little boy that we love so much.  We can hardly believe how big you're getting and though it'd be nice if time would slow down a little bit, we're loving every second of our life with you.  We love you Benjamin :-)

I'm 27

27.  Why does that almost seem kinda old?  27.  I don't know, it just seems close to 30.  It's weird to think I'm 27 because I hardly recall being 26.  I think because the whole year went by pretty fast so I don't remember thinking to myself "I'm 26" that many times throughout the year.  But now I'm 27 so it doesn't matter if I don't remember being 26.

Yep, my birthday was on Thursday.  It ended up being quite the eventful day because my parents finally closed on their first home, 

my brother had his second son Aiden 

and of course, I turned 27.  Which in light of the first two things seems rather insignificant.  Insignificant or not, my sweet hubby planned a get-away-date-night for us in Portland.  Our awesome friends took Benjamin for the night and we were off!

This is what we ate for dinner...

They give you a fabulous gift certificate for your birthday so we had to take advantage of it.  Peter wanted to try lobster so we splurged and had the filet mignon and lobster combo and Peter got the filet mignon.  Benihana is a Japanese steakhouse so they cook your food right in front of you and our chef was pretty funny.  So not only is the food A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, but the whole night is just a fun experience.  I'm pretty sure we left nothing on our plates, which, considering the amount of food they give you is rather appalling, but let me tell you.....it was worth it.  Yummy, yummy, yummy!!!  Making me hungry just thinking about it.  And I'm a total LAME person for not remembering my camera....but, since it was my birthday they give you an ice cream sundae and come sing to you, then make you stand up in the restaurant (oh joy!) and they sing some more, then you have to blow out a candle sitting on Buddha.  The best part though is that they take your picture and you can download it from their website.  So the quality is terrible but at least it documents us together on my 27th birthday :-)

Of course we had to get a cheesecake (or two?!) from the Cheesecake Factory and we just vegged the rest of the night.  I even got to watch a little HGTV before going to sleep.  

 

We had a lazy morning, ate the hotel breakfast, hit some garage sales, ate Five Guys burgers (soooooo good!) for lunch, and made a quick stop to Ikea.  It was a great day.  We came home to a little boy who was really happy to see us but we could tell he'd had a great time.  He was pretty good for them too so I was grateful (isn't that every mom's nightmare that their kids are going to be terrible for the sitter?)  We had an EPIC girl's night that night so we had spaghetti and cake balls and we played word games and drama games.  It was a really fun time :-)

Today was a low key day.  We went to a few garage sales, I made food for our church picnic tomorrow, Peter worked on the giant hole we used to call a fireplace, I started to clean out the garage, then we went to a friend's high school graduation party.  Now we're kicking back and probably going to watch a show online together.  The sun came out this afternoon so we're hoping it's here to stay.  If dates with the hubby, slices of cheesecake, hugs from the most adorable little boy I've ever known, and sunshine are what my days are consisting of, being 27 really isn't that bad after all :-)

Week in Idaho

I cannot believe it's already June 6th!!!  Time is just flying by and it kind of needs to stop.

Last week we spent the week in Idaho.  We took off for Memorial Day weekend thinking we were going to be helping my parents move into their new house but unfortunately their closing date got pushed back.  I could totally sympathize with how frustrated they were with it all because Peter and I bought a foreclosure for our first home and it just seems to take forever and a day to get anything done.  I think my Dad and I both used the word "inefficiency" several times throughout the week.

So since we couldn't move their stuff we decided to make the most of the weekend and ran lots of errands to get things for the house.  Of course, we also went to some garage sales :-)  We spent Monday morning with Peter's parents so Benjamin could have his much loved Poppy & GongGong fix!  Then we had a BBQ with my siblings at my parents. 

Peter had to head home on Monday afternoon since he had to work but Benjamin and I stayed through the week.  My mom took some time off so she could hang out with Benjamin, it was SO great to hang out with her.  To say that Benjamin loved his time with Nana would be an understatement.  My mom works too hard and too much so when we come to visit she doesn't always have a lot of free time or energy so it was seriously a huge blessing from the Lord to just watch Benjamin and Nana bond throughout the week.  There was a lot of Benjamin saying "NA NA!  NA NA!  NA NA!"  Though I'm sure Nana could have done without the lightsaber "aya aya" attacks and read a few more books instead :-)  Here's a few random pics of the week...

 stories, stories and more stories.  It's his favorite!

 Go get Nana Benjamin, go get her!  HA HA HA, he takes his lightsaber attacks very seriously.

Benjamin went NUTSO one night and repeatedly threw his Floppy backwards for 45 minutes from 8:00pm-8:45pm.  He'd throw it, laugh hysterically, yell loudly, throw it, laugh, on and on and on.

 a boy and his daddy

 my sweet niece Azalea :-)

 my cutie nephew Alexander :-)

 my sleep deprived son (HA!)  He woke up around 6:15 every day.  Yes, 6:15 AM not PM.  And guess which lucky lady got to share a room with such an early riser? 

 he's looking more and more like a toddler

 goofy grin!

 Auntie Amanda took him to the pet store since there's no zoo in town!

 my whole family became witness to how fast Benjamin can run when he's running away from you.  He just does. not. stop.    EVER.

 Racing cars at the arcade

He was obsessed with the dog mannequin at Old Navy, too funny!

 this was right before we left for the airport....Benjamin was in desperate need for a morning nap!  (Yes, there was a 6:15am wake up time involved again.....early bird gets the worm & a morning nap!)

he was so tired but I KNOW he's going to miss his Grandfather.  It was so fun to hear him try so hard to say Grandfather all week........who else is going to give him HoHo's for breakfast? :-)

Amanda and I hit up the 1/2 price appetizers at Applebees one night and took pictures of the Lewiston skyline after dark.  My nephew Alexander turned 1 on June 1st so we celebrated at his party with him!

 Happy 1st Birthday Alexander!!!

 Benjamin tried to steal Alexander's Elmo crackers while he wasn't looking :-)

 playing with his new toys and Nana after getting cleaned up from his cake mess!

They weren't able to get into the house while I was there but I did get to take a tour of the inside.  I'm really excited for them, with a few personal touches and a bit of elbow grease it's going to be just perfect for them.

It was a fun week hanging out with family and watching Benjamin get completely spoiled!  Daddy was missing us though (okay, okay, we were missing him too!) so we flew home on Saturday evening.  Once again, Benjamin was great on the plane.  I think he was tired from running NONSTOP for the 1 hour and 45 minutes we waited for our flight at the airport.  He can wear a mama out that's for sure!

While I was gone Peter was at his list of projects again (funny how I refer to it as "his list" so it makes it seem less like the honey-do list that it really is)  He tore up the tile around our fireplace and repaired some of the dry wall around the tv niche.  Let's just hope he can finish this one without me going away for another week.

Oh boy.  I just made him promise that he will finish this project.  Maybe I should make him pinky promise.  Or threaten to not feed him again.  Or that I'll only serve cranberry sauce and sweet potatos.  One must play dirty when it comes to the big hole in her wall going away :-)